Shareholders in Brazilian securities exchanges Bovespa and the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchangehave have agreed to a merger as the wave of global exchange consolidations in recent years takes root in Latin America.

In a joint statement, the chief executive of each exchange said the merged bourses would be called New Exchange, and shareholders from each company will get half the shares of the new company, and shareholders of Bovespa will also get R1.24bn ($719m; €454m) in cash.

The new exchange will have the same number of directors appointed by each exchange.

Bovespa and BM&F have set up a transition committee to appoint a chairman and chief executive within 60 days of shareholders approving the deal.

The transition committee will remain in place until the end of December.

The exchanges said: “Based on preliminary estimates, given the existing synergies, the combined organisation resulting from the proposed restructuring plan can potentially save up to 25% of the combined operational expenses by 2010.”

Bovespa was already the largest stock exchange in Latin America.

In addition, according to BM&F, the merged exchange will be the world’s third largest securities exchange in terms of market value, which is estimated to be about $20bn, after Germany’s Deutsche Boerse and the CME Group in the US.